


Games

by Quiet_roar



Category: Deadman Wonderland, Girls und Panzer, Hetalia: Axis Powers, Metal Fight Beyblade | Beyblade: Metal Fusion, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Strike Witches, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Gen, Gore is much later, I also got 2 OCs in this, Like, They are godesses, all the platonic ships, also, but like, disheveled goddesses, have mercy though, is pretty pg right now..., kill me, like kill me gently, like they can't even do their job right, please, someone save me, sorry for any ooc-ness, what even are tags?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6950161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quiet_roar/pseuds/Quiet_roar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Did you see any mistakes? Don't be afraid to tell me! Seriously, I would love some feed back on this story. Like, this is my most precious story, even if it kills me endlessly.</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

The walls and halls were bright glowing white, only made more nauseating by the buzzing florescent lights; making the building seem sterile and completely hollow of any life form at all. This was not true though; the proof was lazing about in a large plush chair, staring at images of people on hundreds of screens. She had her eyes on a few people in particular: A grown man with long blond hair, a 16 year-old boy who could easily be mistaken for a girl, a creepy masked man, a white-haired high-schooler, a pink-hair girl, another girl with long blond pig-tails, and a few miscellaneous people. Though, none of these people had her full attention. Rather her attention was drawn to a girl who had brown eyes, and strangely cut blond hair; though, said strange cut also made the blond girl look utterly adorable.  


“If she were smaller, she’d definitely be a cute fluffy animal. Though I have no clue what type…maybe a cat? No…that wouldn’t make sense.” The woman mused to herself; or so she thought. Unbeknownst to her, another woman had snuck into the empty abyss of white; a woman who looked exactly the same, but with a more sinister air.  


“Alas, you want to test that little…creature. Isn’t that right?” The sinister woman cooed, running her hand down the sitting woman’s right shoulder. The sitting woman jumped up and spun around, facing the other’s unwelcome advances with a menacing glare.  


“How did you get in?” She hissed, a small crackle of light appearing in her hand.  


“Now, now; there’s no need to get so violent…Annette. I’m simply here to make sure that, well, the tests are going as planned. Which, judging by the fact that you are in charge, I’m going to assume is not the case.”  


“That is none of your business you mad heifer. And why do you care who I take an interest in? and…how do you know my name?” The crackle of light grew brighter as Annette’s anger grew, the screens fizzing and buzzing with alien static.  


“We have no need to question such silly matters. This building was made for testing, and testing these weak creatures you are not. If you will not test them, then I shall!” The sinister woman yelled. A bright circle lit up around her feet, before a deafening explosion rang out through the other-wise empty arena. Annette shielded her eyes from the blinding light, and when she looked back the woman was gone.  


**AND SO THE GAMES BEGIN AGAIN…WITH ANNARDROTTIR IN CHARGE.**  


Annette sighed, not bothering to look at the now blank screens. She could not help these people now…and even if she could, it would likely do nothing at all.


	2. Introductions

Ibuki opened her eyes, last she checked, she was stuck on an island with a lot of other students and no way off. Oh and the murdering, can’t forget the murdering! Yes, that’s right. A creepy little teddy bear had told her and her class mates to murder each other to get off the island. Now however…gyah, when did the sun get so agonizingly bright?

“Ibuki is blinded by the li~ight!!!” She sang loudly, shielding her eye and giggling a bit. Surely her friends would get the joke. Not Komaeda though, Komaeda wasn’t funny. He was scary.

“Well then Ibuki should find some sunglasses, or tear her eyes out.”

“Um, Bakura-kun, are you okay?”

“Ah? Did I say something odd right now? Did something happen?”

“You are like Canada! Not as Awesome, but similar! You shall now be Canada two!”

“Prussia I’m right here.”

“Oh…Don’t stand behind me, when you do that I can’t see you.”

“All this noise is not helping Ibuki’s eyes! And it’s hurting Ibuki’s head!” Ibuki yelled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. If she was sure of one thing, it’s that she was that she was no longer on the island.

“Well, I think we all just need to remain calm…and try to figure out how we got here.”

“Miss Nishizumi is right! We have no time to panic! In a situation like this, the best thing to do is remain calm and think of a way out!”

Ibuki was now able to open her eyes without being horribly blinded, but she almost wished she could close them again. Aside from Komaeda, there was no one here that she knew; and her suspicions of not being on the island were correct. She was currently locked in a giant room with maybe 50 other people who she didn’t even know. And more importantly, the room was so horribly boring! Nothing but white tiles covered the ceiling, floor, and walls between.

“hey…Can I ask every one something?” It was Komaeda. He was trying to get everyone’s attention, while still being polite. Needless to say, everyone mutter some kind of response, all along the lines of ‘go ahead, nobody cares’; and that was mostly true. “I was just wondering…if anybody else here is dead?”

Ibuki froze. Was she dead? She didn’t remember dying…or…did she?! Yes…That’s right, she _did_ die. That nurse killed her, when she was sick.

“Yeah, I’m dead. Or I’m supposed to be, but who cares? You all will fall into despair soon enough, I’m sure!” A girl chirped. She had GIANT fluffy pigtails, which appeared to be held in by clips that looked like Monokuma.

“Eh…Guess I am too…” Ibuki muttered quietly, looking at the floor sadly. If everyone here were dead, then what was this place? Was it Purgatory? Heaven? Or Hell, because Komaeda was here. Ibuki had no clue, and slowly her ‘I care’ factor lessened.

“Well, I’m not dead. And neither are my friends. The people we got our names from are dead, but that’s about it.” A girl commented. She had blond hair, wore a peaked hat and some sort of military coat. She also wore a green and white school uniform and was currently standing around others wearing a similar uniform.

“Wow! You look like a little fluffy animal!” Ibuki giggled, pointing at the blond girl.

“What?! I’m not a little fluffy animal! My name is Erwin and you should watch what you say!” She yelled, glaring at Ibuki. Just because she looked cute and fluffy did not mean she was.

“Eh? ‘Erwin’? What kind of name for a girl is that?” A white-haired man asked. Holy bacon, his eyes were red! He was also wearing some sort of deep-blue military uniform; well clearly there were a lot of military lovers and/or personnel here.

“It’s my soul name. It’s based off of field marshal Erwin Rommel. Since you are wearing that uniform, I’d expect you to know such a thing. Don’t you think so Guderian?”

“Wah…that’s so cool!” A girl with fluffy, short brown hair bounced while basically gawking at the white-haired man. She was wearing a similar uniform to the blond, so they had to know each other. “Though, Erwin has a point, you should know that mister…um…”

“I am the awesome Prussia!” The albino declared, striking a pose. A tiny yellow chick popped out of his collar, letting out a small ‘cheep!’ as it did so. “Oh, and this is the one and only, equally awesome Gilbird!” The man said, pointing to the chick. The little yellow puff chirped again and suddenly flew over Erwin, landing on her hat and snuggling into it quite happily. “Wow, you should feel lucky! Gilbird likes you!” 

Erwin, on the other hand, clearly did not like the small puffball nesting in her hat, as she swatted at it to try to get it off. Her efforts were futile though; the little thing just sat there happily, cozy in its new nest. “Get it off!” She yelled, taking off her hat and attempting to throw the poor thing off. 

“I thought you liked animals Erwin” Another girl commented. She had brown wavy hair, almost like Guderian, but this second girl had a red scarf around her shoulders. She also had the green and white uniform that seemed to be the base outfit for a lot of the girls present. 

“I do, but I don’t think that thing had legs and I don’t know what it’s even _remotely_ supposed to be!” Erwin hissed, trying to pry Gilbird off of her hat. For something that seemed to lack legs, it had a very strong grip; and this was clearly aggravating Erwin. “You stupid thing! Let. Go. You. Bast-” 

“I don’t mean to interrupt you, but would you mind keeping the cursing to a minimum? We have small kids here.” A man with long white hair muttered, motioning to a couple of small boys standing near him. His hair was kept in a low ponytail, and despite obviously being male, his attire seemed rather feminine. 

“Don’t call us little!” One of the boys, a blond one, yelled at the man, pouting in an attempt to look threatening. 

“But he didn’t. Yosuga heard loud and clear, he called you small. Oh, and Yosuga and Toto are dead. I just remembered that.” A pink haired girl stated. She sounded bored almost, like she couldn’t care any less on whether she was living or not. 

“Hey, how did onee-chan die?” A green haired boy standing near her questioned, pointing at her. 

“Toto killed Yosuga…He seemed angry…or mad…” 

“Aren’t those the same thing?” Ibuki asked, tilting her head to one side. Surely they were the same, or at least close enough to be similar. Or go hand-in-hand. One of the three.  


Komaeda sighed and looked at everyone. “If you just remembered that, then for all we know, we all could be dead.” Everyone looked at each other, letting Komaeda’s words sink in; it did not stay quiet for long though, as a small blond boy in a sailor uniform quickly spoke up.  


“But that’s impossible! Me, Prussia, Canada, and Latvia can’t die!” He pointed to each in turn as he said their names, or rather, the names of countries.  


“Yeah…Sealand has a point. We’re countries and a micronation…or principality…so that just wouldn’t happen.” A shaky boy with surprisingly curly brown hair and a red uniform stuttered. He looked at the little sailor with an apologetic glance, as if he had done something wrong.  


“And I’m a potato.” A boy with long white hair chided. He was wearing a mostly white t-shirt with a single black stripe across the chest and sleeves, jeans, and converse. He didn’t look as feminine as the other boy with long white hair, but this boy was close.

“Ryo you are not a potato. What are you even babbling about?” A tan man with blond hair muttered. He looked so feminine in his purple shirt that showed his stomach.  


“No human can be a country Marik, they’re _lying_. Anyone with eyes can see that much; or is your hair bleached, and the chemicals are slowly dissolving your brain?” Ryo hissed, glaring at the tan boy. Despite looking as harmless as a fly, he was obviously more dangerous than a snake.  


“Um, everyone, can you please calm down? Erwin, I know your hat is really important, but could you stop for a minute so I could speak?” A girl with brown hair, this time cut in a bob and very straight and neat, muttered. She wore the same green and white uniform as Erwin and Guderian; and judging by how many other girls wore the same uniform, Ibuki could only assume they were all part of the same school.  


Erwin huffed a bit and flipped her cap back onto her head, with the chick still clinging to it. The small puff made the already adorable-looking girl even cuter, which clearly ‘Prussia’ liked as he let out a small squeak, prompting a glare from the girl. The girl with the bob started talking again, once everyone had quieted down enough. “Alright, I know this is scary, but we all have to remain calm. I know that, some of you believe you are dead, and others believe you are countries, but as far as I can tell we’re all alive, and human. So, first, we should all introduce ourselves. I’m Miho Nishizumi, pleased to meet you all.” She finished, bowing quickly.  


“I am Yukari Akiyama! Some people call me Gurderian though.” The first brown haired girl giggled, saluting and then bowing quickly with a muttered apology.  


“My name’s Saori Takebe! It’s wonderful to meet you all!” A girl with red-orange hair chirped merrily, adding a small hop to her bow.  


“I’m Hana Isuzu, pleased to make your acquaintance.” A taller girl with long black hair hummed quietly, bowing as usual.  


“Mako Reizei. Good night.” Another girl with long black hair drawled, not even bothering to bow. The only difference between Mako and Hana was the height as well as the white band that Mako wore in her hair.  


“I am called Caesar, pleased to meet you all.” The second brown haired girl; the one with the red scarf; stated proudly, throwing part of her scarf over the opposite shoulder.  


“I’m Erwin, as you all know by now.” The only blond girl of the group remarked, crossing her arms. Ibuki noticed that, unlike all the others, the black part of her uniform was tied in a neat little bow, also adding to the cuteness.  


“I am Saemonza. Pleased to make your acquaintances.” A girl with long dark red hair said, bowing like the others. She had one eye closed, as well as a red band with six gold coins around her head, and a chest piece for archery (Also red). She also wore red stocking that went up to just above her knees.  


“My name is Oryou, nice to meet you all.” The last one muttered politely, bowing as well. She had messy black hair kept in a ponytail; and wore a pair of red glasses, and a black coat-like thing draped over her shoulders.  


Once those four were done, four other girls; all wearing orange mechanic’s suits; stepped forward and introduced themselves. The first one was a girl with short, dark brown hair and pale skin, her name was Sakoto Nakajima; she also introduced the three others. A tan girl with black shoulder length hair named Hoshino (She wore her mechanic uniform differently); another tan girl with very curly brown hair named Suzuki; and the last girl, who seemed very happy, had light brown hair just above her shoulders. She was called Tsuchiya.  


Everyone else, save for Yosuga, introduced themselves. The boy with green hair who was by Yosuga from the start was named Toto Sakigami, he went by the name ‘Mocking Bird’; while the girls name was Yosuga Mitsuzaki, she was apparently called ‘Canary’. Next there was Ganta Igarashi who was occasionally called ‘Wood pecker’; and then Shiro who was also called ‘wreched egg’; and the last one from their group was named Minatsuki Takami, A.K.A ‘Humming bird’. After them the very feminine man and the two boys introduced themselves, with another girl; they were Tsubasa Otori, Yu Tendo, Kenta Yumiya, and Madoka Amano. Then there was a group of girls who for some reason choose not to wear pants, they had started off with calling themselves witches and the reason for no pants was because they interfered with a striker unit, whatever that was; their names were Erica Hartmann, Sanya V. Litvyak, Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, and Gertrud Barkhorn; they were definitely a strange bunch. After them the three boys who clearly had split personalities: Ryo Bakura, Yugi Muto, and Marik Ishtar. Nobody asked the ‘countries’ to introduce themselves, that would just be weird. So introductions were immediately handed off to Ibuki Mioda, Nagito Komaeda, Makoto Naegi, and Junko Enoshima; who also introduced their ‘super high school level’ categories at the end of their names. Lastly was a group of people who looked like they were from the middle ages in their old clothing and curious glances at the others; they were apparently named Armin Arlert, Annie Leonheart, Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse, and Hange Zoë. Everyone tilted their heads as the last one introduced…herself? Himself? Hange sounded like a girl but looked like a guy so…they were just going to call them Hange.  


“Okay, well now that we all are introduced, why don’t we look for the a- _I mean jerk_ who put us in here.” Hange hummed, correcting them self before cursing, remembering that there were small children here.  


People were muttering agreements, and Erwin had gone back to trying to pry Gilbird off her hat, when a loud and rather antagonizing voice came over a loudspeaker.  


**“Attention all attendants, seeing as you all are done with introductions, I will now open the door to the rest of the facility. Please enjoy your stay, and do understand that testing will commence in a week. Thank you all for your cooperation.”** The voice finished. It sounded like it was reading off a script. No one had time to ponder what the voice meant by ‘testing’ though, as one of the walls slid up and into the ceiling, revealing a much bigger space. Thankfully, a holographic map appeared in the center of the room; it displayed the _entire_ facility. Everyone was too shocked to utter a word, opting for looking at each other, and they all clearly had the same thought: _What did we get ourselves into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you see any mistakes? Don't be afraid to tell me! Seriously, I would love some feed back on this story. Like, this is my most precious story, even if it kills me endlessly.


	3. Welp, it's the first day!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ooarai girls wander around and try to figure things out. Like how they got here in the first place...

The groups split up and stuck to the people who they knew, but they all decided to explore the new area. Gilbird, however, did not get the memo as he stayed on Erwin’s hat, letting out little ‘peeps’ every once in a while and twitching occasionally. Saori giggled a little and kept commenting on how if Erwin wore dresses or frilly outfits more often she would look utterly adorable; but Erwin was having none of this as she glared at the red-orange-haired girl whenever the subject came up, which was quite often as it was the only conversation at the moment. 

“I know girly isn’t really your style Erwin, but come on! A fox-themed outfit, or something based off the time you take an interest in wouldn’t be all that bad! I think it would be adorable! Oh! And some of the boys might even notice you! You’d become so popular!” Saori squealed with delight, trying to imagine the StuG commander in a frilly fox-themed outfit. 

“Not happening.” Erwin hissed. Ignoring the fact that she was one of the few people on the team who tied part of her uniform in a bow; ‘cutesy-frilly-oozing-sparkle-fairy-glitter’ really wasn’t her style. If anything she tried harder than ever to look mature and dignified, since she had all too often heard someone comment on how her hair made her look ‘undeniably, absolutely’ adorable, like a small child. It had begun to aggravate her, especially since she didn’t even look as small as the freshmen. “I don’t know about you Saori, but I’m not one who wants to prance around in a flower field in a sparkly pink dress, with long flowing hair, and throwing glitter everywhere.” 

“Saori huffed and glared at Erwin, stomping her foot. “Well, no one said you had to look _that_ girly. Aside from that, wearing a frilly dress every so often won’t do any harm; you four do know that right?” 

“Don’t drag us into this. You may be friends with Oryou and talk with Erwin over the radio a lot, but me and Saemonza really don’t know much about what you talk about.” Caesar put her hands up defensively, stepping away from the feuding girls. 

“Actually, perhaps something more formal would work better for Erwin miss Takebe. Something like a female version of a military officer’s uniform, but instead of pants a skirt!” Yukari interjected, hoping to end the rather silly argument. 

“But what would be the point if she doesn’t look cute…Unless you want an outfit like that too Yukarin!” Saori jumped. Despite not having said anything, she _desperately_ wanted to see Hippo team in fancy dresses; and not be in a play or skit of any kind. “Any way, the only reason I bring it up is because you four looked so pretty in those dresses during the hidden talent competition!” 

“Don’t mention that!” Saemonza hissed. Despite the fact that all four of them did wear dresses, it took _forever_ for them to figure out what they were going to do. And even then, they broke the one rule given to them by the student council. 

“Everyone, please, calm down. We shouldn’t be fighting like this, it’s a ridiculous topic. Saori-san, if Erwin doesn’t want to wear a dress she doesn’t have to; Erwin, don’t argue with her, that only makes her more determined.” Miho huffed, spinning around to face the group. They were all stuck in a strange place and had no clue of what they had to do. As far as Miho was concerned, their biggest priority should be getting out alive, not arguing about dresses. 

All the noise had woken up the yellow puff, that now called Erwin’s hat its home; but it quickly realized that ‘Prussia’ wasn’t anywhere nearby, and started chirping loudly and flapping a tiny pair of wings. 

“Argh! Be quiet! You’re the one that fell asleep!” Erwin growled, covering her ears. Even though the group had only been in this strange place for a few hours at most, Erwin wasn’t all too keen to the idea of being dragged to some mysterious place, possibly by an insane murderer, just so said mysterious person could ‘test’ them. She knew looking for a way out was everyone’s best option, but when a few people were crazy enough to think that they were countries, she started to worry for everyone else’s safety, regardless of whether they were also kidnapped or not. 

“Let him chirp. At least it’s not our shoes or arguments about dresses.” Oryou stated quietly. She picked up the small puff and placed it on Erwin’s shoulder; which, despite annoying the blond, caused the small thing to fall quiet. “I guess that Prussia guy lets it sit on his shoulder all the time.” 

“And while it is with me, none shall take me seriously.” Erwin hissed, glaring at Gilbird, who was currently attempting to organize her hair. 

“We’ll still take you seriously Erwin, yellow puffy thing or not!” Yukari cheered, saluting and jumping a bit. Even though Erwin lived with Caesar, Oryou, and Saemonza, Yukari currently seemed to be the only one able to cheer her up. 

“Thank you Guderian. At least I know somebody will try.” Erwin huffed, only half-glaring at Saori, now that the conversation of dressing up Erwin in frilly things was done. 

They continued exploring in relative silence, only occasionally uttering ‘oo’s, ‘ah’s, ‘wow’s, and the very rare ‘how fancy’. Despite the entire facility being extremely reminiscent of a large hospital, there were a few rooms that were utterly beautiful; such as the bath area and the dining hall, both of which were decorated with pale blue tiles, tapestries, and miscellaneous silver accessories. The halls only decorations were colored lines with words such as ‘bedding’, ‘sleeping quarters’, ‘boys bath’, ‘girls bath’, ‘fitness center’, and other fairly normal things, all leading straight to the doors. While none of the girls would deny that the facility was really bright, they also could not pin-point the source of the light; when looking up one would see light, but no ceiling or lighting fixtures, which was only made stranger by the fact that they could hear florescent lights buzzing. The girls eventually found themselves back in the room they had started in, looking at each other with a mixture of shock and admiration. 

“Well, clearly this person has a lot of money.” Sakoto stated, taking off her work gloves. He and her teammates had been fixing up their Porsche Tiger when they were suddenly dragged here. 

“Yeah, but what bothers me is that they would do something like this. Kidnap some high school students, only a couple of adults, and a few kids. There must be more than one person behind this.” Hana concluded, crossing her arms. 

“I have an idea: even though not everyone is here, we could try to remember what we were doing before we were knocked unconscious and dragged here.” Mako suggested, sounding bored despite the predicament. 

“Well, I was at home researching the next school we were facing.” Miho stated, as was expected of the commander. 

“I was on my way to hippo team’s house! I was going to pick up some models Erwin had wanted to borrow.” Yukari chirped, looking at the blond. 

“I was at home, sleeping.” Mako stated dully. Everyone knew it was true. 

“Oryou and I were taking a walk. We were also with Piyotan and Yuzu-san!” Saori said, glancing at Oryou, who nodded to show it was true. “I hope they’re all right…”

“I was home as well, thinking about my next flower arrangement for the next show.” Hana said in her usual quiet voice. 

“Well, we were working on the Porsche Tiger so…yeah.” Sakoto motioned to her teammates, all of who nodded and muttered agreements. 

“I was reading about Rome in the library, no surprise there.” Caesar muttered, fiddling with her scarf. 

“I was practicing archery on the school’s range.” Saemonza stated, twirling her bow as if it could agree. 

Erwin fiddled with her fingers and looked down. “I was in my room…at our house…waiting for Guderian.” 

“You look like you were plotting to molest her once she got there.” Mako stated blatantly, noticing the sudden change in the blond commander’s attitude. 

“I would do no such thing! I was just reading!” Erwin yelled, blushing brightly. 

“Okay, mind if I ask why you borrowed some of her models?” 

“Because I wanted to find out about them! I was curious!” The blond huffed, crossing her arms. Everyone just stared at Erwin until she sighed and muttered something, too quiet for anyone to hear. “I said, ‘I borrowed them for patterns.’” 

“Patterns? Patterns for what?” Saori questioned, tilting her head. 

“I’ll give you a hint: it was part of our discussion in the halls.” 

“You were making tank-inspired dresses!?” Saori squealed, leaping at Erwin. Erwin just glared at Saori and nodded, backing away slightly so the other wasn’t on top of her. 

“Yes. I sew. Good job getting me to tell you all. If anyone else in our school finds out, I’ll have a general idea of who I need to murder.” Erwin growled, glaring at everyone. She didn’t like people knowing she enjoyed sewing, or even knowing that she could sew at all. It was something the blond preferred to keep a secret. 

“Cool! Can I see them when we get back Erwin? Please?!” Yukari begged, leaping closer to Erwin. The blond nodded, sighing in defeat; perhaps they would leave her alone once they saw how bad her designs were. 

“Okay, now that we know Erwin’s secret why don’t we leave her alone?” Miho said, feeling sympathetic towards the StuG commander. “Any ways, it’s not like these were daily happenings for us, right? At least not all of them.” Miho confirmed, receiving a nod from everyone. 

Just as the girls thought they were getting somewhere in their thoughts on how this happened, the voice came back on over the loudspeaker: **“all attendants, please proceed to the mess hall for dinner. Thank you”** The message was short, but confusing. As far as the girls knew, there was no kitchen, and when they had checked, the dining hall had been completely empty of food. Ignoring that, the girls obeyed the request and found their way back to the dining hall. They were utterly shocked when they entered and the tables were overflowing with various kinds of food. There were meats, fish, rice, noodles, even some traditional foods from different countries! 

“So…when did this all get here?” A male voice asked, surprising all the girls. When they turned around though, it was only ‘Prussia’ and ‘Canada’; the former quickly reunited with the little puff named Gilbird, who chirped happily. 

“Wow, they have everything. Ah, pancakes! And…a maple fountain? Cool!” The man with the polar bear stated in a quiet excitement. Soon enough, everyone else began to arrive, all utterly shocked by the large amount of food in the hall. 

“wow, Ibuki has never seen so much food!!” 

“What about what Hanamura-san made for the party?” 

“Woah, look at all this food!” 

“It does look good…”

**“FOOOOD!!!!!”**

“Hey! Sasha! Calm down! You’re drooling everywhere!” 

“We should be careful.” 

Erwin turned around and looked at the quiet, if not clearly off blond boy, who called himself Armin. He seemed to have common sense; the food had clearly been made by somebody, and that somebody was clearly whoever brought them here, so for all they knew, the food could have been poisoned. 

“Armin’s right, for all we know, there could be drugs or something in the food. We should be careful.” Hange had spoken Erwin’s thoughts, as well as a few others possibly. 

“Whatever! Come on Ganta! There’s candy and sweets over there!” a girl all in white, named Shiro, giggled; grabbing the boy and running to a table in the back that had nothing but dessert items on top. The girl quickly began placing an assortment of sugary confections on a plate she had grabbed when passing the table, and seeing as she had grabbed two plates, it was clear she was also getting some for Ganta; or so everyone hoped. 

“It’s not poisoned. There wouldn’t be a point in poisoning us if the person planned to test us.” A rather feminine boy, named Tsubasa, stated; he quietly went over to a table covered in an assortment of various fast-food-like edibles and took some. Almost everyone was shocked by his sudden statement, as if he really knew what was going on in the controllers’ head. 

“Um…how does he know that? Rule one of being a prisoner in enemy territory is to not trust anything they give you.” Yukari had crept closer to Miho, whispering only loud enough for her tank-mates to hear. Despite the statement not being directed at Erwin, the blond couldn’t help but nod slightly, agreeing the panzer loader. 

“Hey, if eagle-man’s okay with it, so am I! C’mon Kenchi!” A small blond boy chirped happily, grabbing the arm of a green-haired boy and running to catch up with Tsubasa. The blond identified himself as Yu, whereas the boy with green hair was named Kenta. The only girl of their group, apparently name Madoka, soon followed the boys in their hunt for foods they enjoyed. 

Soon everyone was walking around trying to find some sort of food that they enjoyed, and with the large selection it really wasn’t that hard. Erwin had finally decided of some rice and venison sauerbraten, and carried her dish to sit next to her friends and team-mates; she surveyed the dining room and found that everyone had reformed into their previous groups: the ‘strike witches’, the ‘countries’, the scouting legion, the ‘ultimates’ or whatever, the bleyders or blayders, the dualists, the deadmen (whatever those are), and the Oorai tankery team. She wasn’t all that surprised, especially considering that today was the first day meeting each other, but sooner or later she knew the all _had_ to get along. 

The meal had gone off without a hitch, and there was no announcement after, so all the groups went back to exploring. The Oorai group, however, decided to take a bath; finding the area quickly and changing before diving into the bath water. It was warm, but not too hot or cold, it was absolutely perfect; soon the calming scent of lavender could be detected, and Erwin looked around in an attempt to find the source, but quickly discovered that the water itself was the source of the wonderful perfume. 

“Wow, the water smell so nice!” Saori giggled, coming to the same conclusion. 

“It’s kind of like rose-water, except with lavender.” Caesar commented, scooping up a handful of the fragrant water. 

Erwin stayed silent, she had the very odd and unnerving feeling of déjà-vu; she didn’t understand why she had such a feeling, she just thought this was uncannily familiar. She dunked below the water and came back up, wiping water from her eyes as she came up. Everyone was having fun with splashing each other and playing tag, when Saori squealed; everyone looked at the red-orange haired girl to see her point excitedly at Erwin, who just sighed and glared. 

“Yes, my hair does this when it gets wet.” She muttered, twirling the now limp strands of blond. Her hair still resembled fox ears, but they looked folded; like she had been scolded or had been standing in the rain and was trying to prevent water from getting into her ears. It looked fairly adorable. 

“Oh, that’s right. None of you have ever seen Erwin right after she takes a shower.” Caesar points out, swimming over to her blond teammate. 

“You guys should have warned us! Now I _have_ to find her a cute dress!” Saori squeaked happily, splashing a few close people. 

“Let us not talk about gowns at this current moment, it will likely cause another argument.” Oryou hummed, gliding between the two girls. Erwin merely nodded and moved away from Saori; thankfully, the anglerfish team radio operator got the hint and dropped the subject. 

It was about an hour or so later when the girls finally decided that they had spent enough time in the water, though, it was mostly because they were tired. Despite the fact that none of the girls wanted to sleep, they couldn’t deny that it would be good for them; they would need all their strength and mental stability if they were going to find out who had done this to them, as well as these other people. They found that there were no separate sleeping quarters, and the girls would have to share a room with the guys; to say it was exceedingly awkward and caused concern with some people would be an understatement. Thankfully, there were two separate changing rooms for the boys and girls to change into pajamas separately; and dividing the room itself to have a girls’ side and a boys’ side was exceptionally easy. 

The room gave a rather calm air, and like the bath had the very light scent of lavender; the walls were a light shade of purple, almost white; and the lights on the ceiling were duller compared to the lights in the rest of the facility, and were clearly controlled by a light green light switch near the door. The beds were like bunk-beds with a black frame; big enough to fit two people next to each other, and stacked three beds high. The bedding was either light purple with swirls of light pink, or light purple with swirls of light blue; the mattresses were comfortable and the pillows were plush, and the blankets, although appearing thin, were more than able to keep everyone comfortably warm. Before long, everyone was tucked in and the lights were turned out; falling asleep with small ‘sigh’s, or a sweet story of dragons and the odd adventure. Erwin and Caesar had decided to share a bed; as many people had chosen to do; but Erwin couldn’t get to sleep, and judging by the fact that Caesar had been shifting a lot, neither had she. 

“Caesar, you alright?” Erwin questioned, turning around to face her friend and co-commander. 

“No. I…I don’t know what to do. This all is way too crazy…where even _are_ we?” The fellow commander had taken off her red scarf and was now holding onto it as if it was a blanket that could scare away monsters. 

Suddenly Saemonza hung over the edge of her bed and looked down at her fellow tank-members, “I believe we are in another dimension, but the exact location is still unknown. My watch is still at about four in the afternoon.” The gunner explained, handing the joint commanders her watch; the hands still on the four and just past the twelve. 

“That is…weird.” Erwin muttered, handing the watch back to her team’s gunner. Caesar nodded in agreement, propping herself up on her elbow to see the watch better. 

“Lady Caesar, Miss Saemonza, Erwin, I know you guys are concerned, but you should really sleep.” 

The three members of Hippo team looked up to see Yukari hanging over the edge of the third bunk, having heard the three girls talk about the oddity. 

“I know it may be worry-some, but we need our sleep. What if the week before testing was a lie?” 

“Guderian is right, we should get some sleep.” Caesar commented, earning a nod from Erwin and Saemonza. The four girls snuggled back into their beds, but everyone knew that sleep was utterly impossible; even with stories, even with the phrase ‘it’ll be okay’; even with so many friends close by, sleep would never come to any sane person who had a week before these ‘tests’. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any errors? Tell me! Hope you all liked it!


	4. The True Introduction of the Countries!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, random things in this chapter. Just name calling and a random voice. Bewarb.

Latvia woke with a start as he was kicked harshly in his back, causing him to jump and yelp in surprise; this reaction caused the blond boy who he had shared his bed with to scream and fall out of the bed, landing with a much-too-loud **‘THUD’** on the ground. 

“Wah! Sealand! Are you alright!?” The light brown-haired boy yelled, leaning over the side to look down at his friend. 

“Owww…I’m alright.” Sealand muttered, rubbing his head. “Maybe we should switch with Prussia and Canada though.” 

The two boys had chosen the topmost bunk, Prussia and Canada decided it was safer, and Sealand explained that he had grown used to staring at the ceiling and felt uncomfortable seeing the bottom of someone else’s bed. The whole commotion had awoken everyone by this point; a few of the girls looked around in panic before remembering what had happened, and the strange girl with cones of hair on her head yelled ‘MURDER!’ for some reason. She calmed down, however, when she realized that there was no murder. 

“Ha, sea-boy fell out of his bed!” A blond child named Yu jested, pointing at Sealand; the ocean-bound principality just glared at the boy before leaping back up to his bunk and sitting with Latvia. 

“It’s not funny. And don’t call me ‘sea-boy’, my name is Sealand.” 

“Ah, Peter, you might just be encouraging him…” Latvia smiled awkwardly, trying to calm things down. Everything had already started with a rude wake-up call, and clearly nobody was pleased at the moment. 

“He started it.” Sealand pouted, crossing his arms. Without Finland and Sweden present, the only one capable of enforcing rules for Sealand was Latvia; the blond boy wouldn’t listen to Prussia and hardly noticed Canada. 

“I know, I know, but-”

“I DIDN’T START ANYTHING, LIAR!” Yu yelled, interrupting the Latvian boy. “And who’s ‘Peter’? I thought you all were named after landmasses.” 

“Well, we also have normal names.” Latvia muttered, sounding slightly annoyed. 

“Yeah, the only reason we never said anything is because none of you asked!” The albino, Prussia, stated as if it were common knowledge. 

Everyone sat in silence, staring at the four boys as if they were broken. These were four people, old enough to know how to talk for themselves, and they hadn’t introduced themselves with human names because no one asked. Finally a white-haired boy who identified himself a Ryo decided to speak: “That is a very childish way of thinking. But gliding past that idiotic point, _WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOUR NAMES THEN?!_ ” He yelled, clearly displeased. 

“I, the awesome Prussia am also known as Gilbert Beilschmidt! And Canada is also known as Matthew Williams.” The albino half-yelled, striking a pose and pointing to himself and the poor Canadian. 

“And this is Kumajiro.” The quieter one mumbled, glancing at the polar bear in his grasp. 

“Who are you?” 

“I’m Canada!” The man responded to the small bear. 

“Um, anyway, Peter Kirkland is what I’m also called.” The blond boy who had recovered from his fall muttered, glancing at Latvia. 

“Ravis Galante, pleased to meet you all…um, I guess?” 

Everyone was silent; too confused by what was going on and why these people had chosen to refer to themselves as countries when they had normal names. After a few more moments of awkward silence and staring, the voice on the intercom came back and announced that breakfast was ready, and a quiet rumble from someone was enough for everyone to agree that breakfast might be a good idea. Everyone headed out, still in their nightwear and not caring one bit; which was a little awkward as some of the girls were wearing _especially_ short night gowns. But it wasn’t much of an issue as the participants, once again, divided into their own groups. 

Latvia quickly sat down next to Sealand, not really paying much attention to the food he had chosen; too concerned with his friend who was unusually quiet. 

“Peter? Is everything alright?” The boy asked, in his slightly broken English. Latvia was able to speak enough English for others to understand what he was trying to convey, but he missed words sometimes or phrased things in an odd manner; Sealand’s English had gotten slightly worse as a result of being around so many people whose first language was not English. 

“Yeah! Everything’s perfectly fine!” The sailor boy chirped, smiling brightly. Latvia was not fooled. 

“It’s not Peter. I can tell, something is bothering you. What?” 

Sealand sighed, casting a quick glance around the room before motioning for Latvia to lean closer. It was confusing, usually Sealand wasn’t so cautious with secrets, even when he tried. “I thought I saw someone cough up blood.” The blond boy whispered quietly, a fraction of fear in his voice. 

“Oh…” Latvia sighed. Sealand had hemophobia, an unnaturally intense fear of blood. Latvia had discovered this fear by sheer accident one day; he was cutting up some vegetables to have for dinner, Sealand decided to stay over for fun and was helping to prepare dinner, when the knife Latvia was holding slipped and cut his finger. It was a _tiny_ cut, comparable to a paper cut, but as soon as Sealand turned around and saw the small amount of blood, he got quite pale and froze. Latvia had told Finland and Sweden the next day, and apologized profusely to Sealand, but it explained why the usually hyperactive boy was suddenly so calm; he was trying to hide his fear. 

“I’m sorry Peter, do you want a hug?” 

“No Ravis…I’m fine. But if someone is bleeding they could die…what if they already performed some tests on some of us and that’s the reason some one is bleeding? What if we all have been asleep for weeks and something bad has happened?! WHAT IF EVERYBODY’S MEMORY OF US GOT ERASED AND THEY DON’T KNOW THAT WE’RE MISSING BECAUSE THEY DON’T REMEMBER US?!” Sealand cried frantically, getting louder as he continued. 

Latvia noticed everyone looking at Sealand, fear slowly ebbing into their eyes as they caught wind of the crazieness his mind was concocting. 

“Sealand, calm down. Please, do you know how unlikely that is?” Latvia muttered, frantically trying to calm down his friend. It wasn’t easy though, simply because once Sealand got rolling, it was hard to get him back on track, and the recent discovery that someone was already bleeding from something wouldn’t help at all. 

_Wait, why did I think that something here could hurt us? The tests could just be silly things like stamina and memory._ “That was odd…What possessed me to jump to such a conclusion?” 

“What was that Ravis?” 

Latvia looked at Sealand and realized he had been thinking out loud. “It was nothing Peter, I was talking to myself. Just sit down and eat something, we shouldn’t waste food.” 

After an eventful breakfast, Latvia somehow convinced Sealand to wander around the building with him. There wasn’t much to do, so the blond boy agreed. They wandered around, chatting idly about recent events that had occurred in their countries; which wasn’t that much. Eventually they ran out of things to talk about and went back to the topic of the mysterious blood. 

“Why would someone keep b-bl…being injured a secret?” Sealand complained, avoiding the red substance in the best way possible. 

“I’m not sure. But there has to be a reason.” 

“Like what?” Sealand yelled, throwing his arms up in disbelief. Bleeding was not good no matter what! 

Latvia shrugged, muttering quietly, “Maybe they’re hurt and don’t want anyone to freak out about it.” 

“But then they need medical attention!” 

“Peter Kirkland.” Latvia stated, finally getting his friend to be quiet long enough to talk and share his own thoughts. “Sometimes people don’t share when they’re hurt because they think it’ll make everything easier. They don’t think about everything the same way a soldier does; and humans are very picky about when to share things and when not to. Just leave it be and we’ll see if anyone comes forward, alright? Does that sound better?” Latvia smiled, placing a hand on Sealand’s should in an attempt to comfort him. 

“Alright…” Sealand muttered, looking down at the floor. “Just promise me that if you find out who it is, you’ll tell me, okay?” 

“Promise.” Latvia held out his pinky finger, and they both agreed to tell the other and only the other if either of them found out who was bleeding. 

Once they were done with that, they decided to just wander, exploring the strange building and all its secrets. It was this random wandering that brought them to a strange area they had never seen before; it was a long hallway, with a dusty map near the entrance and color-coded lines, connecting to the closest rooms. One line was purple with only two words on it, while the other was black and clearly led to multiple locations. 

“What is this place?” Sealand looked around in wonder, noting that the lights were much dimmer here than anywhere else. 

“I don’t know, but something tells me we shouldn’t be here.” Latvia replied, trying to read the chapped paint letters. It was futile though, the writing was too worn down and cracked to be of any use, and the lack of working lights didn’t help either. 

A loud clang from further down the darkened hallway surprised both boys; obviously they were not the only ones here. 

“Just **DIE!** ” 

Latvia and Sealand took that as their cue to run, run as far away from the hallway as possible, and never talk about it ever again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hope you all liked this chapter! See any mistakes? Do tell!


	5. Everyone has a Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bakura hears some interesting chatter and decides to investigate. Along the way, he meets someone who strikes a nerve, and we learn more about the facility they are in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually updating. This chapter has been ready for a while, and I posted it to Fanfiction.net, but like, formatting here is hard. Anyways, see any error or just like the story? Tell me so! It keeps me motivated.

Ryo lay in his assigned bed, tired despite not having done much. He knew why he was tired, but no one else would; at least not yet. He stared at the blank walls, bored, tired, awake, amused, and a total mix of contradictions. He hardly even batted an eye as two boys came running in and bolted up into their bed, clearly afraid of something. Ryo didn’t care though; he really couldn’t care. 

“What are we going to do?!” One of them cried out in panic; they were in such a hurry they completely missed Ryo. He decided to listen to the two boys, he had already explored a lot, there were no more secrets to-

“We can’t tell anyone about it!” Oh, looked like Ryo was wrong, there were still some secrets. Ryo shifted carefully, focusing his attention on the conversation between the two boys to see if he was right. 

“But what if someone else finds it? What if they get hurt?” 

“Peter…we found it by dumb luck…oh…this is so weird!” 

“Well yeah it’s weird! This is like something straight out of one of Japan’s role-playing games!” 

_Oh? Now this sounds interesting_. Ryo thought to himself. If there was one thing he loved more than the occult, it was games; table-top role-playing games to be exact. He continued to listen, hoping to get some details. 

“But who even was that lady?” 

“I don’t know! Wah! This is more creepy than Russia!” 

Okay, now Ryo definitely had to check out whatever these boys were talking about. He crept out from his bed and slowly approached the boys; they were hiding under their cover like a small child would from a monster. They were quiet now, as if trying to silently figure out what to do; to get their attention Ryo tapped gently on the side of their bed. Both boys jumped and threw the cover off, staring at the white haired boy as if he had miraculously materialized out of thin air. 

“What are you children talking about? You shouldn’t keep secrets from your superiors.” Ryo stated, as if that would get them to magically explain themselves. The two boys only stared though, the realization that Ryo had overheard their entire conversation slowly dawning on them. 

“Ummm…..Nothing?” The one in the sailor uniform muttered, trying to sound convincing and failing _horribly_. Ryo just stood there quietly and stared at the two boys, waiting for a truthful response; he used to do the same thing to Amane when she fibbed to him, it always worked. 

“Umm…Well, we kind of-”

“Sealand! We can’t tell him!” 

“But he won’t leave~! And that’s the same look Jerkland gives me sometimes! And Sweden…and Finland…And you right at this current moment.” 

“Well clearly you get into all kinds of trouble Mr. Sealand! Now, please do tell me about this lady you saw and why it’s like a role-playing game, hm?” Ryo kept his voice calm, he wanted answers not scared kids. He was good at acting innocent, but he got the unnerving suspicion that one of them would recognize his innocent smile as false and call him out on it; and that was not good. 

“Well, we didn’t really see her; but we heard her!” The sailor boy chirped, looking back at Ryo. “We found this dark hallway, like in those horror games!” 

“What?!” Ryo was practically jumping up and down with excitement; this sounded like the plot to one of his monster-world games! “Where was it?! I want to see this for myself!” _If they could show me, that would be better, but they are clearly not fond of being afraid_.

“Well…We kind of just…stumbled onto it…by accident.” The Latvian boy stated, fidgeting nervously. “It was dark, and the directional lines were black and purple.” 

“Alright. Thank you for telling me. This will be our little secret, just between the three of us, okay?” Ryo giggled, winking at the boys as he left the room in hopes of finding this mysterious hallway. He tried not to get his hopes up, but with how the two children sounded, Ryo just couldn’t resist! This was just so exciting! Being whisked away to a mysterious place with a whole bunch of strangers, no memories of what happened, expected to partake in some series of tests, and likely to die; this was all too exciting! 

“You look awfully happy for someone who’s dying.” 

Ryo spun around and was confronted by another white-haired boy. Everything about this boy screamed “I have limited money and don’t care about what you think”; except for the fact that his left hand appeared to belong to a girl rather than himself. “And you are…?”

The other boy sighed and faked sadness, smiling a little. “I’m not surprised you forgot, we both are just trash; not expected to remember or expected to shine brightly, simply meant to-”

“Just tell me your name again and I’ll keep it in there, okay? I’m not in the mood for a life story or…whatever is was you were doing.” 

“Komaeda Nagito; in exchange for my name, how about you give me yours?” 

“I’m Bakura Ryo. Why do you say I look happy for a dying person?” Ryo bowed politely to Nagito, expecting the same, but getting nothing. It was like this guy wasn’t even fully there; but on top of that, he had an all-around creepy vibe that scared even Ryo. _And I’m near impossible to scare…This’ll be fun_.

“Well, you _obviously_ aren’t healthy. I have no idea what you have, but clearly it’s been there a while.” The smile Nagito wore told Ryo that this guy knew more, but wasn’t going to say anything. Deciding he had had enough, Ryo switched tactics; being nice could only get you so far after all. 

Ryo charged at the other white-haired boy and pinned him to the wall, acting as if he still wore the cursed Millennium Ring. “ _What_ could _you_ possibly know about _me_? Hmm?” Ryo hissed through gritted teeth. 

Nagito burst into laughter, shocking the angered boy; “ **I** know that _you_ are not well. I _also_ know you are pretending to be this innocent little kid, but this, right now, is the real you. Am I wrong Bakura-san?” 

Ryo moved away. If Ryo was ‘not well’ this guy was ‘terminally ill’. “You…” Ryo was quiet for a long time, staring at this strange man. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Nagito-kun! I hope we can become good friends! If you’ll excuse me, I have something I need to be looking for.” He walked away, smiling pleasantly as he continued on in his quest to find the mysterious hallway; acting like the whole encounter with Nagito never even happened. 

Ryo observed the halls, watching the colored signs change from pink to green to red to orange to black and purple to- the white haired boy back-tracked quickly, looking over the eerie hallway and faded markers. Ryo began following the dull lines, despite the possibility of extreme danger at the end of one. The first line to end was the purple one, branching off into pink and blue, each with only one word on them. Ryo continued to follow the two lines until they lead to a couple of doors. Pushing said doors open was not easy, as they appeared to be electronic and the power to this hall seemed to be cut. 

When he finally got the doors open, he was startled by what was inside. Both rooms were separated by a clear glass wall with a few holes in it, as if to allow for communication between the two rooms. The room on the left was pink, while the room on the right, the one currently occupied by him, was blue. The toys in each room mirrored traditional American toys given to young girls and boys; toys that were seen as men’s toys were in the blue room whereas ‘feminine toys’ were in the pink room. There were a few exceptions, as it seemed that some of the smaller toys were passed through the holes when the other gender showed an interest in them. Primarily Barbie dolls, action figures, puzzles, card games, and toy cars. 

A glittering card from the pink room caught Ryo’s attention, and as he retrieved the paper square through a hole, his heart nearly stopped. It was a shimmering version of the blue-eyes-white-dragon card, similar to the ones Kaiba had, but with a little extra. 

“Now I wonder what this is doing here?” Ryo questioned aloud, curious as to how there could be a fifth blue-eyes-white-dragon. Let alone one that Kaiba didn’t know about, one that appeared to be extremely rare. Deciding to try and figure this mystery out later, Ryo tucked the card into his back pocket, leaving the rooms to collect dust as they had been for many years. 

He continued down the hallway, despite having no clue of what lay ahead of him due to the total lack of light. Feeling along the wall brought him to a separate hallway, which he turned down out of curiosity. As he continued down the dilapidated corridor, he noticed that the area slowly became more open. He finally reached the end of the place, which appeared to be a large dome-like structure; almost like an arena of some sort. Feeling along the wall to make sure he didn’t get lost, he accidently pressed a switch; after a few horrendous groans and a violent shake, the ceiling opened, sunlight streaming in allowing for a more clear visual of the room. 

In the center of the room there were several seams, indicating that the floor opened to reveal something or change up the area. Ryo looked to the switch board he had managed to find and rubbed away to dust to read some of the words. 

“Walls…Roof…Drop Portal? The hell is a drop portal?” Just to end his curiosity, Ryo pressed the button that corresponded to the strange wording. 

He let out a high-pitched shriek as the floor started shifting, spiraling around until there was only a massive hole in the center of the room; big enough to take up most of the area. He stared in awe at the gaping abyss that now consumed most of the room; it left only a foot or two along the wall, just enough for someone to walk around the parameter of the sudden drop. 

“Ha…Drop portal…Funny…” Ryo growled, pressing the button again and letting the floor seal up. _More like death portal…or portal to hell…_ He thought bitterly. He hummed quietly before pressing the button that read ‘Walls’. The walls around the room stayed the same, but the floor began sliding back together, and upon reaching a complete state again, several dozen small walls rose up from the floor. They were all heavily damaged and crumbling to dust, some even fell over as they made there was out of their assigned holes. 

“Alright…Walls are dead…what does the roof one do?” He already had an idea on what would happen, but this was more fun. Ryo pressed the corresponding button and waited; but the roof stayed in place. “Well that’s a-WHAT?!” He yelped as the room was suddenly filled with a bright light, momentarily blinding the white-haired boy. 

“Ow…Okay, really? You had to name it something vague like roof, instead of just saying lights?” Ryo growled, glaring at the control panel. It really was a stupid idea. It was even more stupid because the lights were nowhere near the roof, instead placed along the walls. “Honestly, who the hell built this place?” 

A loud clattering outside caught Ryo’s attention; he ducked away from the door, sticking just out of sight against the wall. 

“Hello? Is anyone there?” 

Ryo stood up and peered out into the hall, immediately spotting a small girl with blond hair. What was her name again? 

“Oh! Uh, what are you doing here?” She asked, having seen the white-haired teen. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” Ryo responded quickly, staring at the girl like he did with the other children. 

“My friends and I were actually playing hide-and-seek. It was our commander’s idea; explore and have fun!” She was trying to sound happy, but failing miserably. 

“I see. Say, can you keep a secret?” Ryo questioned, leaning closer to the girl. She made a quiet noise of agreement that she could indeed keep a secret. “Well, you see, I think whoever did this might be connected to a series of items.” 

“Like what? A sword?” 

“No, items that are very easy to identify. Like a gold necklace with an eye, or a gold triangle surrounded by a ring of gold. Things that are very easy to spot.” He stated, pacing around the short blond in a rather predatory manner. 

“You’re uh, kind of starting to weird me out here mister…”

“Please, call me Ryo! And I’m dreadfully sorry, but…my friends don’t actually know a lot about me.” 

“Like what? Surely if they’re your friends, they’d know plenty about you…” She muttered, spinning to face the white-haired boy. 

Ryo snickered, a sinister smirk playing across his face. “Well you see miss…”

“Erwin, my name is Erwin.” 

“Well, Erwin, the problem is-” Ryo was forced to stop as he burst into a violent fit of coughing, making him double-over in pain. He is just barely aware of Erwin asking him in a panic if he is alright, as well as screaming for help. Her yelling was abruptly cut short as he grabbed her uniform coat and heaved her onto the ground. 

“Shut up!” 

“You are hacking up blood!” Erwin shrieked, pulling away from Ryo’s surprisingly strong grip. 

“And that’s what my friends don’t need to know about! That is part of the problem! The other problem is that some idiot seems to have found out and I need someone to help me get rid of him, as well as make sure he tells no-one!” Ryo hissed, managing to wipe the small amount of blood that had propelled itself out of his lungs off his chin. “So what do you say, Erwin, care to help a dying man keep one last secret?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darnit Ryo, stop being so creepy. Anyways, there's going to be an important note in the next chapter about the characters and their personalities. Got an idea you want to share? Tell me please, I like hearing theories and ideas from you people.


	6. Alliances Formed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin makes a deal or two to feel more at ease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is a deceptive description, but I literally have no other way to describe this chapter. Another one that I had all done that was just sitting around. Please enjoy it all.

Ryo held his hand out to the blond girl, his smile was the kind that dealers in movies wore; he had poor intentions, but his own reasons for doing so. 

Erwin remained silent for a while, staring at the white haired boy who had collapsed in front of her. She could vaguely hear the sounds of her friends looking for her; they probably heard her yelling. Taking a deep breath, she took his outstretched hand. “Deal.” 

Ryo gave a weak, laughing cough as they shook, sealing his fate and hers. She would keep his secret. Erwin pulled the boy to his feet, helping him stand as much as possible. He was practically using her as a cane as they walked out of the mysterious hallway. 

Sure enough her friends had been looking for her once they heard the yelling, each one growing more concerned as they spotted Ryo, who now had blood smeared across the bottom half of his face. 

“What happened?!” Saori wailed, twittering about the poor boy as she tried to determine if he was alright. 

“I just tripped and ran into a wall. I’m kind of clumsy.” Ryo lied. He had been doing that for quite a while now, lying. He lied to his friends, his family, everyone he knew. 

“He told me he happens to bleed a lot whenever he gets cut or anything; sorry I freaked out.” Erwin stated, adding to the lie. She was speaking quietly and in a fractured manner, alerting her house mates that something was off. None of them voiced their concerns though, instead deciding to remain quiet and ask the blond girl about it later. 

“Well, I suppose that’s good.” Miho smiled gently. Saori was still flailing around trying to clean Ryo off, all the while commenting subtly about how handsome he was and that he should be more careful lest he ruin his lovely face. “Erwin, where were you?” The team captain questioned, turning her attention away from Ryo and back towards her teammate. 

“Oh, um.” Erwin fidgeted nervously, rubbing the back of her neck as she tried to think of something. “We-”

“We ran into each other while I was resting.” Ryo interrupted, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. He was smiling despite still being covered in blood. “She suggested I go for a walk to shake off this little cold I’ve been getting over, and that’s kind when I tripped into a wall.” He continued, the picture of innocence despite the lie. 

“THE FIRST ALLIANCE HAS BEEN FORMED.” Everyone looked up as the loudspeaker came to life once more. Erwin’s internal screaming became even louder, and Ryo was mentally stringing together a slew of curses so profane it would have Satan blushing. 

_It has to be talking about me and him. But why?! It was just a little secret, nothing big. Seriously, what the hell?!_ Erwin was about ready to come clean with the lie when Ryo only added to it. 

“Must have been someone else. Probably Yugi, seeing as how he literally feeds off of friendship.” The white haired boy huffed, coughing slightly. 

“No. This seems too suspicious.” Caesar claimed, crossing her arms as she looked between Ryo and Erwin. “You two haven’t even talked to each other before. An “Alliance” doesn’t always mean “Friendship”. Whoever is running this place could have cameras set up, saw you two walking together, and thought you formed some kind of alliance.” The brown haired girl reasoned out, fiddling with a strand of hair. “Though, I do have to wonder why they felt the need to announce it.” 

“Yeah!” Yukari chimed in, clearly concerned about the announcement. “I mean, it’s not like Erwin is going to betray us or something; so I fail to see the significance of it!” The brunette huffed. 

Erwin looked uneasily at Ryo. He was too calm considering what had just happened. _Does he lie to everyone?_ She couldn’t help but wonder. She knew she was giving away that something was wrong to her housemates, but everyone else seemed pretty oblivious. “Either way, maybe we should avoid each other Ryo.” Erwin supplied, nervous as she spoke to the boy. “If someone thinks we are working together to plot something, then the best way to show that we aren’t is to stay away from each other, right?” 

Ryo muttered an agreement and nodded, slowly standing. “Sounds about right. Sorry to bother you all.” With that, he waved and walked off, probably to try and clean himself of blood. 

“He’s so tall, and handsome~!” Saori suddenly squealed, a dreamy look in her eyes as her gaze followed where the white-haired boy had disappeared to. 

“Erwin, is everything alright?” Erwin turned to Caesar, a concerned look on the brown-haired girl’s face. Erwin could simply nod and smile. “Hey, guys, why don’t you go and explore, and we’ll catch up?” 

The rest of the group looked uneasy, but did as asked, leaving only the four members of Hippo team in the area. 

“Erwin, please, tell me what’s wrong.” It was Caesar, begging now, concerned. The other two seemed to jump on the bandwagon of ‘guilt Erwin into telling us what is wrong’ and by god was it working. With a sigh, the blond girl finally relented. 

“Alright, I’ll tell you. He…he lied.” Erwin stated plainly, shuffling her feet nervously. 

“What do you mean?” Saemonza asked, confused. 

“He was in a hidden corridor. I just went to look because I heard a noise, while we were playing hide and seek. He was there, and suddenly he just…” Erwin wrapped her arms around her in a kind of self-hug, rubbing her upper arms as if trying to stay warm. 

“What happened?” 

“He started coughing up blood. And the way he was acting was so…predatory…” Erwin couldn’t help but shiver. It was unsettling to say the least, and she was even more afraid now than before. Erwin flinched as something was draped around her shoulders, which she found out was Caesar’s arm; the brunette had a sympathetic look on her face and was clearly concerned about her teammate. 

“It’s okay. If he tries anything, you tell us, and we kill him.” Caesar spoke confidently, smiling broadly as she did so. 

“Thanks, I don’t think he will try anything…hopefully.” Erwin muttered, laughing quietly at her friends. 

“Still, even if he does, I’m sure there are weapons around here somewhere!” Oryou chimed in, trying her best to cheer up her friend. It seemed to have worked as Erwin smiled, laughing more. 

“Alright, you three win. Just make sure no one knows it’s us!” 

“THE SECOND ALLIANCE HAS BEEN FORMED. THOUGH THIS ONE COULD HAVE BEEN SEEN FOR MILES.” 

“Seriously, what is that about?” Saemonza hissed, glaring up at the loudspeaker. As her gaze returned to her teammates, she noticed that Erwin had an empty, albeit nervous smile on her face. “I don’t think she’s okay.” The red haired girl pointed to the blond, drawing their attention to her. 

“Uh, Erwin?” Caesar winced, clearly Erwin was not having a fun time. 

“Shit.” Erwin hissed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I said this in the fanfic one, and I'll say it here: For most of the character's personalities, I'll be going off of solely the manga versions. This means Ryo Bakura is going to be creepy and mischievous as all hell, and Erwin (Read all of Hippo team and most of the other girls) are going to be more socially aware.  
> This isn't to say that I'm going to completely ignore the anime, as I'm already planning a sequel to this story, but the divide between the manga characters and the anime characters is going to be an important point even in this fic as it deals with alternative timelines and the such. Because of this, I suggest anyone who hasn't read the mangas read at least some of them and watch some of the anime to understand just how different they are meant to be (honestly, the most jarring would probably be Yu-Gi-Oh!).

**Author's Note:**

> Dear god, why did I write this? *Dying whale noises*  
> I'll update whenever, sorry about that.


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